YouTuber and inventor, Janne Käpylehto, shared an interesting video: charging a Tesla Model X with human power. This is one of those things that would require a group effort. In what is noted as a “very silly, but fun, concrete and exciting,” idea, he directs a group of nine cyclists to team up and charge the Model X.
In the video, you see the Model X and a set of nine empty bicycles. The Model X is at 181 kilometers of charge and the goal is to see how much 20 minutes of cycling can charge the vehicle.
Nine of Finland’s top professional track and road cyclists took part in this experiment. After 20 minutes of cycling, the cyclists were able to charge the car with two additional kilowatts; taking the charge to 183 kilometers. The video noted that charging a Tesla by pedaling for two kilometers for 20 minutes set a new record. This oddly makes me think of the Flintstones where the main character, Fred, would power his concrete car by running.
Although this would be a fun workout, it isn’t the ideal way to charge a Tesla. If you were to charge a Tesla with nine cyclists in top condition, then at the rate of their speed, it would probably take a week to fully charge it. Of course, I don’t think anyone is planning to make this an official way to charge a Tesla, but it is a fun experiment that can help one to see just how much we can power our cars by exercise.
Another interesting way to charge a Tesla, as demonstrated by Engineering Explained, is to tow it. In their video, they used a Ford Raptor to tow it and they were able to fully recharge the Tesla battery by towing the vehicle 75 kilometers or 47 miles.